Time for a Local Census (1801-1831) subscription service

[drhewitt]

It doesn't have to be a paid subscription service

When you use the word "subscription" the indication is that you are expecting people to pay for use of the info provided.

Perhaps a better word would be Transcription Service if you intend comparing it to freebmd and no charges will be made

Have you seen http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/Census.html

The census was taken on the following dates:
10 Mar   1801   No longer exists, with a few exceptions
27 May   1811   No longer exists, with a few exceptions
28 May   1821   No longer exists, with a few exceptions
30 May   1831   No longer exists, with a few exceptions

 

I agree - free or otherwise, I think the early census returns are a useful resource that many could benefit from.

[stanmapstone]

author=CaroleW link=topic=458090.msg3192081#msg3192081 date=1274745478

Have you seen http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/Census.html

The census was taken on the following dates:
10 Mar   1801   No longer exists, with a few exceptions
27 May   1811   No longer exists, with a few exceptions
28 May   1821   No longer exists, with a few exceptions
30 May   1831   No longer exists, with a few exceptions 

http://www.histpop.org.uk/pre41/listings_a.pdf lists all the known 793 existing records. The figures for each census are on page 6.

Stan

[stanmapstone]

If it was feasable I would have expected existing Family History Societies to have already transcribed these censuses.
Stan

[josey]

Stan - certainly the Calderdale FHS have a CD of pre-1841 censuses for the West Riding of Yorkshire.

The census listing in the document drhewitt mentions is very useful; but lists the locations of the records held in local record offices or archives. Perhaps it would be of advantage to construct a list of all FHS resources for these pre-1841 censuses; they have been transcribed by volunteers so it is fair enough that the FHS gets the income from sales of the CDs. I am sure many rootschatters have information about various resources. I would be happy to keep such a list and make it available to any requesting it.

drhewitt - by the way - is there a CD of the 1831 Marylebone please? I have an index but not the full data.

Josey

[Temic]

I think the problem is their very patchy survival rates. Of course, I've no objection in principle. But from a practical point of view, there would be little to be gained given the amount of effort needed.

Essex happens to have by far better survival rates than a lot of the other counties, yet that's really incomplete: not all years, not all parishes. None of mine, for example.

So the cost in terms of time to put these resources onto the net really outweighs by far the potential benefits, although clearly not in the case of the person who happens to stumble upon the one ancestor they're looking for!

So it comes back to limited resources (volunteers and time) and how best to use them: parish register data is probably going to be the priority over and above patchy, incomplete census returns that have only a minimum of data. And as long as what remains is available in the appropriate searchroom, I can't see it suddenly becoming a priority over and above other types of records. At least, I'm guessing that's probably the calculation being made.

[coombs]

I think the 1821 census of Lowestoft survives.

[drhewitt]

Stan - certainly the Calderdale FHS have a CD of pre-1841 censuses for the West Riding of Yorkshire.

The census listing in the document drhewitt mentions is very useful; but lists the locations of the records held in local record offices or archives. Perhaps it would be of advantage to construct a list of all FHS resources for these pre-1841 censuses; they have been transcribed by volunteers so it is fair enough that the FHS gets the income from sales of the CDs. I am sure many rootschatters have information about various resources. I would be happy to keep such a list and make it available to any requesting it.

drhewitt - by the way - is there a CD of the 1831 Marylebone please? I have an index but not the full data.

Josey

Hi Josey,

I have the CD of the 1831 Marylebone census and it is just an index, you would have to go to the record office to get the full results.

Even thought there aren't many surviving records for these early census returns, here's one example.

My ancestor Isaac Madell appears in the 1811 and 1821 census for Hackney. Without these returns I would never have known where he lived or what his occupation was.

1811 Census

MADELL Frederick     Baxters Rents                 Rope Maker
MADELL Isaac           Behind Paradise Row     Gardener


1821 Census

MADELL Francis         Jerusalem Square          Shoe maker
MADELL Isaac           Morning Lane                 Gardener      1 male  3 females  4 people in 3 families


1831 Census

MADELL Francis         Baxters Rents                Shoe maker

[drhewitt]

If it was feasable I would have expected existing Family History Societies to have already transcribed these censuses.
Stan

Quite a few have been transcribed. I have the 1776 Wetherby census and early returns for Spofforth and Thirsk. It would be a matter of combining returns to create a useful index.

Then there's other local inhabitant lists, that is census returns taken before 1801.

[stanmapstone]

I think the 1821 census of Lowestoft survives.

Lowestoft 1821 and 1831 are available at Suffolk Record Office as listed in "Census schedules and listings, 1801—1831: an introduction and guide" by Richard Wall, Matthew Woollard and Beatrice Moring and published in 2004, available at http://www.histpop.org.uk/pre41/listings_a.pdf

Stan